Is Not That Strange?
by illmatchtheminrenown
Summary: This little fic is from a prompt I received on Tumblr for a Clace fic with Jace being smart and snarky. I happily oblige (with a little Malec thrown in there because quite frankly I can't help myself!) Hope you all enjoy!


"Jace! Come down from there!" Clary called as her boyfriend balanced calmly on the rail of the balcony. Really, she wasn't overly worried, knowing he had the balance of the greatest tightrope walker in the world, but it was the principle of the thing. Sighing, she took a moment to allow herself to be distracted by the beauty that was Jace, by the way the moonlight turned his tawny hair into liquid gold and his efforts to balance only emphasized his lithe form, by the way his arms outstretched to reveal the cords of muscle and the faint shimmer of past runes, and then by the memory of how it felt to be held in those arms, to be pressed up so closely to him that they seemed to meld into one person.

Jace only grinned sarcastically before rolling his eyes and sitting down on the railing instead. Legs dangling haphazardly over the edge, he surveyed the grounds below them like a god looking down on high. He watched as a few birds flew around in circles, chasing one another, though he couldn't quite tell who was chasing whom. Then, a wicked grin crossed his face as he noticed two tall, dark, and very familiar figures emerging from behind a few trees, with a flash of glitter catching the moonlight and giving them away.

"Nice night for a stroll, brother?" he shouted down as they came into hearing range. Jace was rewarded by seeing his parabatai jump a good foot in the air and blush furiously, while his boyfriend- owner of the glitter that had caught his eye in the first place- only tightened his grip around Alec's waist and called back.

"It would be, if nosy Shadowhunters would mind their own business. Now turn around and go inside, handsome- unless you'd care to watch." Magnus replied. Clary watched the exchange with a mixture of irritation and affection. Jace did love to tease Alec, as brothers were wont to do, but she knew sometimes his timing- he had a knack for interfering when Alec was with Magnus- drove the other boy absolutely mad. And yet he could be completely angelic while being absolutely wicked. _A charming young man, capable of being terrible_, she thought, recalling a description from the book she had been reading at her mother's insistence that she study a little more literature.

"Quoting literature at me now, are we?" Jace's voice floated in from the balcony as Clary blushed- she hadn't even been aware she was speaking aloud. Grinning that self-satisfied smirk that she couldn't help but love, he continued thoughtfully, "Go on, then. I believe that description would go on to say how 'angelically beautiful' I am? I suppose in this case, it'd be more accurate than if I was just this handsome but human." Slowly, he entered his room again, approaching Clary with a hungry yet gentle look in his clear, gleaming eyes.

"You're awful, Jace Lightwood, I don't know why I put up with you," Clary mock-scolded, placing her hands on his chest but not really pushing him away. Suddenly, she found herself on her back on the bed, with Jace hovering over her. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear, her loose red hair tickling his lips as he did so.

"Then tell me: for which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?" he asked. "See? You're not the only one who can quote, darling," he murmured. "So…what was it? Was it-" he placed her hands on his sides, eliciting a gasp as she ran her hands down the hard muscle through his thin T-shirt, "my over-devotion to my training? Or," he slid his own hands over her body, dancing his pianist's fingers across her in a way that he knew she loved, "that I spend far too much time being anti-social and practicing the piano? Or perhaps it was my smart mouth?" This time, Clary couldn't answer because suddenly his mouth was on hers, and then they were falling, no, flying, but it didn't matter if it was up or down because they were together and that was what mattered.

A little while later, Jace pressed a kiss into Clary's hair as she started to doze off in his arms. _One more quote_, he thought.

"I do love nothing in the world so well as you- is not that strange?" he asked softly, half lightly bantering and half truly marveling at the love he felt for this girl wrapped close to him. When there was no response, he figured she was asleep and closed his own eyes. Then, in the darkness, he heard a low, sweet whisper.

"No. It's not strange at all."

* * *

**So was this alright? Longtime fan of TMI but this is my first time writing for it. For those wondering, Clary was quoting the book _Les Miserables_, a famous passage describing a character named Enjolras who is blond, dangerous, passionate, and impossibly beautiful- I thought of Jace when I read it. And Jace is quoting Shakespeare's _Much Ado About Nothing. _Hope everyone enjoys!**


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